China-Arab States Tour Operators Conference kicks off in Ningxia

The 4th China-Arab States Tour Operators Conference kicked off on September 4 in Yinchuan city, provincial capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, bringing travel service providers together to boost cooperation and development of the sector.

The 4th China-Arab States Tour Operators Conference kicks off on September 4 in Yinchuan city, provincial capital of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

More than 100 tourism officials and representatives of tour operators and travel agents from 13 countries along the Belt and Road, including Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea and Egypt, as well as from China's Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and more than 10 other provincial regions, attended the gathering.

Zhang Xu, vice minister of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, took part in the opening ceremony and expressed his wish to further tourism cooperation among the countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.

It is necessary for tour operators of these countries to strengthen exchanges and cooperation, and to work together to share tourism resources and develop tourism products, he added.

Yang Dong, vice chairman of the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, said that the conference is a new platform where Chinese and foreign players in the tourism sector can carry on friendship, deepen cooperation, and seek common development. With the platform, travel agents from different countries are able to exchanges views on tourism development, share resources, and explore opportunities to expand tourism markets.

A signing ceremony was held at the conference, with the autonomous region’s culture and tourism authorities signing cooperation MOUs with relevant organizations and companies. Travel agents in the autonomous region inked agreements on customer sharing with tour operators in China and other countries.

A signing ceremony is held at the conference, with the autonomous region’s culture and tourism authorities signing cooperation MOUs with relevant organizations and companies.

Morocco, Chad, Indonesia, and China’s Jiangsu province and Ningxia presented their unique tourism resources at the promotional session of the conference.

The China-Arab States Tour Operators Conference is an investment and trade promotion event of the China-Arab States Expo, which will be held in Yinchuan from September 5 to 8. Its previous three sessions witnessed signing of 71 tourism cooperation agreements in different categories.

To date, Ningxia has convenient and easy access to many international tourism destinations. It has opened international routes from Yinchuan to Dubai, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur, as well as routes to China's Hong Kong and Taipei. It has also provided charted airplane service to Jakarta,Erdos, and opened a tour express linking the autonomous region with other countries along the Belt and Road.

Since 2016, the autonomous region’s inbound tourist arrivals and foreign exchange earnings from tourism have seen an annual average growth of over 30 percent. In 2018, its inbound tourists and inbound tourism income reached 88,400 and 378 million yuan ($52.84 million) respectively, up 35.41 percent and 44.82 percent year-on-year.